Wow - yes. So much yes. This book effortlessly combined horror with historical fiction in a way that worked so much better than others I have read. I'm long time horror fan but first time reader of Stephen Graham Jones and it's safe to say this won't be my last time reading his work.

Right away, this book piqued my interest by toggling between timelines and having each of the timelines read in the voice of their respective character - Etsy, Arthur, and Good Stab. The book started and ended with pages from a 2012/2013 journal (Etsy), but for the bulk of the book, the reader was transported to the pages of a journal written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor (Arthur) describing his encounters with a mysterious stranger (Good Stab) in which Good Stab is describing events that took place throughout 1870. Of course, each individual is interconnected in some way, but the build up of slow realization and creeping dread had me unable to put the book down. In each timeline of events, SGJ did a great job of alternating between, and sometimes incorporating in each, the grim horrific reality of a situation - versus the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Most chillingly, sometimes the grim horrific reality was that some of these events were based on actual American history.

Also kudos to SGJ for doing a disturbing but great job of depicting scenes involving gore (that are also somehow artful?). Many of these scenes resulted in a very rich mental image where the reader can vividly picture the absolute mayhem taking place. I found myself saying out loud "Ohhh no. NO. wait no. WHY." several times (this is a compliment).

Animal deaths being the only exception to this - I always have to take a moment with those scenes to clear my head of it because they are sometimes too disturbing for my brain to process without getting too depressed. Luckily, animal deaths were spaced out enough that I survived without having to DNF.. also the story was just so good.

As a cat owner/servant, though, I enjoyed their relative safety throughout.

For fans of horror and historical fiction, I highly recommend this book.

Saga Press & NetGalley - Thank you so much for the advance copy of this book to read and review!!

#bhh #buffalohunterhunter #stephengrahamjones #netgalley

This is SGJ's most impressive work yet. Every element of this book is exquisite - the framing of the novel, the story within a story within a story was perfection; the stylistic writing appropriate to each narrative was breathtaking; and his ability to craft something that is equal parts terrifying, heartbreaking, and beautiful is on full display.

Jones creates something new and compelling within vampiric lore. Enter Good Stab, a member of the Blackfeet nation, as he recounts his story to a man of the cloth each night by candlelight. As pieces of Good Stab's story are revealed, the priest, Arthur Beaucarne, begins to realize his part in it all. The epistolary format features three narratives: that of Arthur Beaucarne's great-grandaughter, Arthur Beaucarne's journal entries, and the transcription of Good Stab's confession. This at first made for somewhat difficult reading due to the shifts in diction and style between each narrative. However, I noticed this less and less until I was so completely absorbed in the novel it didn't matter. And they all came together rather deliciously in the end.

The horror is brutal and gore-filled with some truly uncomfortable moments. Epic in scope and featuring the actual historical event of the Marias Massacre, Buffalo Hunter Hunter is tragic and heartfelt and a wonderful piece of writing.

Thank you to Saga Press, Stephen Graham Jones, and Netgallery for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: This unique story follows the transcription of events of Good Stab by a Lutheran priest, Arthur Beaucarne. Good Stab begins relaying details of the events that took place which led to him Beaucarne's congregation. What seems to start as a redemption story eventually reveals itself to be a story of revenge. As a reader, you begin to wonder what would lead an Indigenous vampire to form a relationship with a white, Lutheran priest. All is eventually revealed in a masterful culmination.

What I liked: This book is so nuanced and smart! There were several quotes that so accurately depict Indigenous experience. And I appreciated SGJ's inclusion of the acknowledgments because it provided insight into his thought process throughout the book. For instance, the fact that he included Weasel Plume, a white buffalo, without writing about its' sacred meaning? Genius. Down to the smallest detail like Beaucarne's name and the medical officiant taking liberties to translate that last name in a birthing room. It harkens back the residential boarding school experience when Indigenous children were forced to take up English names. The parallel there, which I assume was intentional, was not lost on me. I particularly appreciated the slow, unfolding nature of the story and how more is revealed over time to answer all the questions you have as a reader.

Rating: Solid 4/5

Gripes: The antiquated language of Arthur Beaucarne was difficult to read at times. I had to stop more times than I would like to admit to look up the meaning of specific words. It took me a minute to catch my stride in this book, but it was generally worth it!

Overall: Stephen Graham Jones masterfully weaves historical fiction with propulsive horror in this new take on vampires. This is the revenge story I have been waiting for! I would definitely recommend this book to those with an interest in horror and Indigenous perspectives. Just make sure you have a strong stomach.

I am an SGJ fangirl. I've read many of his books and will try to read them all before I die. I'm prefacing this review with those statements because I want what I have to say next to hold some weight: THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER is Stephen Graham Jones' best book to date and one of the best books I've ever read. I think it's the first book I've reviewed on NetGalley that I would dub the "M' word: masterpiece. THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER is a masterpiece of genre and prose. I've never read another horror novel, let alone a vampire novel, like it. I majorly geeked out over some of the new vampire elements SGJ added to his Cat Men, like starting to take on the characteristics of the animals they drink blood from, and loved reading about how those immortal bodies got broken and put back together again. The part where Good Stab gets frozen in ice?! I was horrified and delighted in equal measure, which could just about sum up my feelings about the whole book altogether—it's a horrifying delight. See that em dash? It's for you, SGJ.

THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER isn't like any other SGJ book I've read. The stream-of-consciousness style I've come to associate with his work isn't present except for the beginning and end sections with the modern character named Etsy. Yes, Etsy. The bulk of the book is told in an epistolary form via diary entries written with late 19th/early 20th-century lingo and panache. Half of these diary entries are from the perspective of the big baddie and the other half are the confessions of Good Stab as written down by the big baddie. Unreliable narrator much? The book switches perspectives between them, usually chapter by chapter. Both POVs are equally powerful, though, and the prose is just beautiful, man. I am a fast reader and can usually finish a book in a day or two, but I stretched my reading time of THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER as much as I could to savor it to the last drop. There's no other book like it and I feel bereft now that it's over.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC of this masterpiece in exchange for my honest review. My pipe is empty now.

For my money, this is Stephen Graham Jones' best book yet. It's historical fiction, yet thematically the most timely and pressing.

4.5 stars, but I’ll round up! This historical horror fiction is an unflinching, captivating revenge story of a Blackfoot vampire, set around the events of the Marias massacre of the Pikuni tribe and the overhunting of buffalo by white colonizers in the 1800s.

Once I started this book, I could not put it down! Despite the violence and dark themes, the characters have a self-deprecating humor that off-sets the horror of actual events, which makes them relatable and multi-layered. It also has a clear and satisfying ending, for which I am grateful.

My only complaint is Etsy’s stream of consciousness style of narration was at times distracting, especially since I wasn’t as invested in her as a character.

I appreciated learning Graham Jones is a member of the Blackfeet tribe, and it was clear the amount of research that went into making this novel as historically accurate as possible (minus the vampire, of course!).

Plus, I always like to read authors’ acknowledgements, and his were so poignantly specific and endearing that it made me feel greater affection for the book as a whole.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out March 18, 2025, and I highly recommend! #BHH #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press for the digital galley in exchange for my honest review.

An epistolary revenge horror story with a native supernatural twist...VAMPIRES? Sign. me. up. This book was phenomenal in a horrifying saddening way. I would not consider this a pleasant read by any stretch of the imagination. My enjoyment of the novel came from the sheer visceral nature of the story and SGJ's impeccable writing abilities. SGJ pulls you in and makes you look at the true horrors of the colonization of Native lands (both historically accurate & fantastically imagined via vampires). Good Stab's confession, so masterfully crafted, as told to (and through) Arthur was enthralling. The inner weaving of the Pikuni language within the story was such a wonderful addition. Despite Arthur's unfamiliarity with some at the story beginning, you as the reader learn along with Arthur. I will admit that I honestly understood exactly Good Stab's motivations and his actions...and quite frankly feel he was 1000% justified. I'd be a buffalo hunter hunter too.

I don't want to spoil any of the main points of the story because I truly feel this is something you just need to go into without much preparation (other than be prepared for gore, death). However, I will say the way SGJ subtly changed the speech pattern, word choice and expressions Arthur uses as Good Stab continues his confession was TOP TIER.

Stephen Graham Jones expertly weaves a story of Native identity, loss, and retribution into an artfully crafted atmospheric narrative.
I was heartbroken the entire time and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Stephen Graham Jones is one of my very few auto-buy authors. I love that he tells his stories in a variety of ways. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter tells a unique vampire tale through confessional diaries. It's historical fiction, blended seamlessly with horror, and it's based on real events.

It wasn't perfect for me, though. The diary sections were challenging to read at times. I struggled reading the transcriptons and that bogged those sections down. But that also lends to the authenticity of the format.

Those squabbles aside, the whole package is pretty darn good! It was bloody and eye opening. I totally loved the last quarter of the book. The ending was well done and I could see how this is kinda/sorta a spiritual successor to The Only Good Indians. I also liked the nod to Backbone of the World. This might be my favorite cover of any SGJ book!

This one hits shelves on March 18, 2025. Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an eArc. All opinions are my own.

📖 Book Review 📖 Stephen Graham Jones is kind of a big deal in our house so a sneak peak at his newest novel was a real treat! In this chilling tale, a hidden journal unleashes haunting undiscovered truths of the American west. Written with such precision and capturing the rugged and raw vastness of this time of westward expansion, Jones designs such an immersive reading experience that is downright uncomfortable at moments. This novel documents a story that reflects our nation’s often shameful history and builds at a perfectly enthralling pace. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter presents as so historically accurate, it is easy to forget what genre lays at the fingertips. This expertly crafted technique allows the horror to weave so seamlessly into the narrative, creating a flawless experience of true terror. Not for the faint of heart, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a truly beautiful, unique, and gripping masterpiece that is not to be missed.

**Thank you so much to S&S/Saga Press, SGJ, and NetGalley for this ARC of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter in return for my honest review. Pub Date: March 18th, 2025**

Set in the American west, 1912- this historical fiction horror follows the detailed life confessions of a Blackfeet named Good Stab. His confessions were orated to a Lutheran pastor, who then transcribed them in his personal diary. The diary is then found within a wall in present day.
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This 448 page novel is EVERYTHING I look for in a vampire novel! Woven together expertly using Indigenous Mythology and the blood steeped history of the American west, SGJ has written a true vampire masterpiece. Although I don't like to compare novels- this story reminds me of Anne Rice's 'Interview with the Vampire'. BHH has all the hallmarks of what I expect from a vampire novel- living silently (and painfully) through multiple centuries, exacting revenge for a misdeed exacted upon the vampire in times past, and the best part-bloody scenes. I absolutely loved SGJ's refreshing new take on the way blood affects vampires- it was truly unique!
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If you love vampire novels, I highly recommend picking this one up!

Each book of SGJ I read I love more. This one is one of the more unique ones.
Going into it you find out it’s about a journal from a Lutheran pastor who took confessions from a native vampire. It has the ring of Interview with the Vampire to it, but there’s so much more!
The twists and turns, the connection to the events of the time ( Buffalo being massacred), the heart and feeling you have for Good Stab as he’s losing then finding himself again.

SGJ is an auto-read author for me, and I knew I would enjoy this one.

It is a bit different from previous books of his in terms of writing style (imo) and the historical bits, but similar in that he does a fantastic job at weaving the indigenous experience into his narratives--and scaring the pants off his readers.

This was as engrossing as it was horrifying. Stephen simply does not miss.

I love how seamlessly the author is able to weave together history with fiction. You still get to enjoy the supernatural horror, while also learning along the way. It really is a skill to be able to write historical fiction well enough that your readers forget that it’s based on real events. And who doesn’t like vampires?

This book was pretty brutal though with a lot of death and a lot of gruesome descriptions. This probably is not the book for you if you get squeamish with injury details. If you enjoy that sort of thing, then this book will be a dream!

The writing was beautifully done and I felt that the story flowed really well. The only qualm I had with this book was that at times it was a bit confusing to me. There were some things that I didn’t know the meanings of at first and I at times struggled with keeping characters straight. It just took some adjustment and highlights to reference back to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book!

TW: violence, murder, gore, death, animal death, racism, rape, torture, blood, fire injury, colonization, body horror, child death, injury detail

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑜 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 by Stephen Graham Jones is is an addictive read. It's an epistolary tale in an epistolary tale—a descendant learning a horrible truth about her ancestor—recorded in three forms. Besides a bit of false suspense at the end, I had only the niggle that "right he" and "like this" were used in the journal entries, without an accompanying description--like a movie transcript.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a roller coaster of a ride. The description alone had me hooked from the first chapter. When a journal is found in the wall of a Lutheran church. The journal is from 1912 and details the story told by a young Blackfeet Indian and a vampire, Good Stab as he retells the events of his life and why he is making his confession to the paster. This is a page turner that has all the gore factor that Stephen Graham Jones is known for. Any fan of horror will love reading Buffalo Hunter Hunter. I would like to thank both NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

The book…Horror! Horrific! Horrifying! Grisly! Bloodcurdling! Brutal! The writing…Brilliant! Earth-moving! Shattering! With one exception. I kept getting lost trying to figure out the translation of animals from the Pikuni language. I wish there were a glossary so that I could continue reading without stopping to solve the puzzle. Put that aside and read this uncanny take on a vampire taking revenge during a brutal and unforgivable time in our history.

A woman is notified of her great-great grandfather’s diary recently found at a construction site. She has to decide its fate. The story unfolds as she read the diary entries of her ancestor, a Lutheran pastor. He details the confessions of an Indian named Good Stab during the reign of terror on Native American tribes and their food source, the buffaloes. The massacres and bloodshed both real (history) and imagined (fiction) leave no room for interpretation.

The vampire seeks revenge from those who decimated his people, stole land and killed the buffalo. At the same time he needs to retain his culture while struggling with the inhumanity of it all.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Press for this ARC.

Stephen Graham Jones is such an impressive author. He’s able to switch between different types of horror, characters, plots, and writing styles so seamlessly. In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter he presents a vampire story unlike anything I’ve ever read before. A diary from 1912 is discovered that details a Lutheran pastor’s encounters with a Blackfeet man named Good Stab. A man who claims to be much older than he appears and subsists only on blood…

I really liked how the book switched back and forth between being in the pastor’s voice and in Good Stab’s voice. It helped to make their character so distinct. And it also helped to show the ways that Arthur, the pastor, was changing throughout the book and being influenced by Good Stab’s story. The narrative that Good Stab tells is full of anger, revenge, massacres, and the true history of the ways that indigenous people were treated in this country.

It was so interesting to see how Stephen Graham Jones crafted his vampires. He gave them some elements that I personally haven’t seen before in other stories. So it made this book feel completely unique. There is a frame narrative of a relative of the pastor in 2012 discovering his diary and learning about this history. But I didn’t find that portion of the book as compelling as what had been happening in the past.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It had complex characters, suspense, revenge, reveals, and provided historical information without ever feeling like a dry history lesson. Definitely check this one out if you’re looking for a different type of horror novel or representation of vampires.

A Vampire, a Massacre, and a Confession You’ll Never Forget

Stephen Graham Jones has done it again, delivering a gut-punching masterpiece that leaves you breathless and questioning the very soil beneath your feet. Why, Stephen? WHY? This isn’t just a novel, it’s a haunting séance of blood, betrayal, and unrelenting grief. From a 1912 pastor’s dusty diary to the chilling voice of Good Stab, this is the untold story of Blackfeet justice and the creeping shadows of the American West. And Weasel Plume? Don’t even get me started. If you’re not weeping, are you even human? Or... vampire?

Read it. Or you’ll regret missing one of the most visceral, unforgettable stories you’ll ever encounter.

This was a let down for me, I've never read a SGJ novel and was hoping to get into his work with this story. The problem for me was the prose and pacing of this story, I only made it to 20% before giving up. The book is written from several perspectives starting with a women from the current era reading a journal from the 1800's. The journal entries are from her great great grandfather who is recalling confessions from a Native American from earlier in his life. This is where most of the story comes from, the recounts from her relative writing from the concessioner's perspective. He writings the journal entries as the Native American man would have been speaking, which is done well, but that was where my problem was at. The prose is slow and disjointed and makes for a boring story in my opinion. When something kind of interesting started to happen I kept reading along waiting for the energy to capture me and draw me in, but it just never happened, it never grabbed me and made me want to keep reading. My TBR list is far too long to spend too much time and energy on some writing that isn't grabbing me and making me want to continue reading. This might not be a problem for some readers and this is fine, but for me this is a pass.

Stephen Graham Jones can’t help himself, he just keeps writing slashers.

I know, I know, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a vampire western, sure, and yes, it is that. A Lutheran Preacher is visited each Sunday by a strange Indian who wishes to make his “confession,” and the story he tells is a supernatural revenge tale full of violence, body horror, and endless, endless grief. Good Stab, as we come to know him, describes a run-in with an inhuman creature in the Montana mountains, somewhere around 1870. He survives this altercation, but is bit, and soon his body begins to go through terrifying changes, most notably, an insatiable craving for blood.

This familiar vampire origin story (bearing a great deal of familiar werewolf tropes to boot) quickly transforms into something much less familiar. Graham Jones quickly reinvents the vampire while still honoring its Eastern European roots. In fact, one might say that vampirism is just one more plague brought by colonial expansion (but you’ll have to read to see just how and why).

Good Stab sees his new nature as a curse, and there’s little new about that, but it’s a double curse for him because it separates him from every form of tradition and fellowship. To be a monster is to be cut off from your people, from your stories, from the very animals. He lives like a beast for some time, purposeless and grieving.

And then the massacres happen. At the Center of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is the horrific Marias Massacre, in which some two-hundred Blackfeet (mostly women and children) were slaughtered by U.S. forces. The reverberations of this event are felt through every page. The second massacre is that of the Buffalo themselves, hunted for their robes and left not only rotting in the sun but laced with poison, making the meat unusable to native people and poisoning the wolf population.

Good Stab recognizes these events for what they are: the end of the world. He is watching a genocide play out before his eyes, and he chooses to use his supernatural powers to wreak revenge.

Which isn’t to say that Good Stab is a “good vampire.” He is driven by an unstoppable hunger, and the details of Graham Jones’ vampire cosmology leads our hero to feed most often on his own people, an event that is heartbreaking and damning each time it happens. Because no matter what he does, Good Stab is caught up in the vast machinery of colonialism, and no one gets out unscathed.

So, what about my initial claim that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is, in essence, a slasher? It ticks all the boxes: an unstoppable, unkillable killer who murders the guilty and innocent alike; a traumatic event that spurs the slasher’s vengeance; even a Michael Meyers-esque penchant for staging his kills like a director setting the stage. Add in the fact that in I Was a Teenage Slasher (Graham Jones’ other attempt at showing us the world through the slasher’s eyes) we’re treated to the conceit that slasherdom is itself a blood-borne curse, and there’s a perfect through-line.

But while Teenage Slasher was a fun romp that culminated in a poignant conclusion, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter will pull out your heart and stomp on it. It also happens to be Graham Jones’ greatest accomplishment thus far: a novel of incredible scope and emotional resonance that works its allegory so seamlessly into the telling that it no longer resembles allegory. A horror story about the impossibility of redeeming our history, it is, in short, a masterpiece.